Whose World is this Wednesday: Oprah “Ruined” it!

He Said/She Said Critiques

Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Ruined is scheduled for its’ small screen debut on HBO! According to the LA Times, via BroadwayWorld.com, Oprah Winfrey and Harpo Productions are in talks of adapting the play. No timeline on the actually start of shooting but it has created a much deserved buzz.

Not only is Ms. Nottage holding the Pulitzer but she recently received the $200,000 Steinberg award for playwriting. This will give needed exposure to another of Ms. Nottage’s projects. She is lending her celebrity as Artistic Advisory to what is looking like a promising playwrights festival in New York called The New Black Fest.

This fest is designed to give exposure to African-American playwrights on a national level. What better way to do this than having Suzan-Lori Parks and Lynn Nottage herself lend their voices…and plays!

A colleague of mine, Jocelyn Prince, who has been slowly emerging as a dramaturg/director/producer in her own right, along with co-Artistic Directors’ Keith Josef Adkins and J. Holthams felt the need to produce this festival after meeting at the “Black Playwrights Convening, organized by the American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage along with Georgetown University.”

Kudos to them! I can’t wait to hear about all of the wonderful work coming out of the festival in October! I’ll keep you informed of what’s to come.